How to Customize the Best HandBrake Settings for DVD

Q: I've been playing around with HandBrakefor a week now, MP4 and MKV, and all that stuff. I'm ripping DVDs and I need to know the best audio and video settings. I have tried most of the presets, any help?

A: Actually, there's no such thing as “best HandBrake settings for DVD”. It at least partly depends on you:

What file size do you want?

What quality do you want?

How fast should encoding go?

Personally, I believe that fine-tuning should be a balance between file size and quality. So here, what we are trying to do is show you the best HandBrake DVD settings for converting DVD to MP4 or MKV in an easily understandable and clear format.

Firstly, you should know converting DVD to digital video is a process of re-encoding with compression. So, there is data loss to some extent and you can't preserve the exact original quality. But you can keep it as close as possible.

1. The video output is mainly depended by the quality of your input source. Usually, DVD has two standards: 720 x 480 (NTSC) and 720 x 576 (PAL), both of which belong to SD (Standard Definition). Therefore, you can only set the output resolution to SD, and the mandatory upscale SD to HD does not improve the video quality.

Also see: PAL Format DVD | NTSC Format DVD | Convert PAL to NTSC or NTSC to PAL

2. Video parameter settings will greatly affect the quality and size of the video. HandBrake DVD rip settings like bit rate, video resolution, frame rate, output format, etc. are very important. Bit rate is quantified using the bit per second (bit/s or bps) unit or Megabits per second (Mbit/s). A higher bit rate allows better video quality. Frame rate affects the smoothness of a video. When in doubt, medium is always a good choice.

General HandBrake Best Settings for DVD

1. Choose HandBrake DVD preset to HD 480P30 Surround and set the output format to MP4 file.

2. Click Video menu. Make sure the video codec is H.264 (x264).

3. The frame rate should be the same as original source file and Constant Framerate should be selected.

4. Check Constant Quality and adjust the slider until the RF number goes to 20.

5. For the encoder options, slide the preset slider to slow.

6. Leave “Fast Decode” unchecked.

7. Set Tune to Film.

8. Set Profile to High.

9. Set Level to 3.1.